Strike the Snake at Its Vital Spot

Seeing that she was still unharmed, it let out a sigh of relief.

The bullet had struck the pillow, sending white goose feathers flying through the air.

The bullet hole was less than a centimeter from the woman's forehead, and it had cut off a lock of her hair.

"That was your first warning. Try any more tricks, and next time I can't guarantee she'll still be in one piece," Tu Ran said, her tone dripping with menace.

Ding Naiqing, lying on the ground, couldn't help but want to give her a thumbs up.

Strike the snake at its vital spot—leave it to Sister Ran.

Unfortunately, his arm hurt too much to lift, so he couldn't express his admiration.

Tubin stared at Tu Ran with a sinister look, wishing he could swallow this despicable human in one bite.

"Vicious human! She's one of your own kind, yet you'd use her to threaten me, an alien."

Tu Ran laughed coldly. "No, no, no. She's not my kind. From the moment you showed concern for her, she's already stood on the opposite side of humanity. Starting today, she'll enjoy the same treatment as you aliens."

"She's not an alien!" Tubin emphasized sharply.

"I know she's not," Tu Ran said, curling her lips. "But other humans won't trust my judgment. They only believe what they see."

A long silence followed. Tubin's countless eyes all fixed on Tu Ran at once. "I'll make a deal with you."

"What deal?" Tu Ran's interest was piqued. She'd only been stalling for time, waiting for the two helpers Xie Xu had sent to arrive and capture him.

Now it seemed she might gain something unexpected.

Tubin fell silent again, then glanced at Ding Naiqing.

Ding Naiqing: ...

He had a bad feeling about this.

Sure enough, a tail covered in silver scales slithered out from under Tubin's clothes, swept across, and slammed heavily into the back of his head.

Ding Naiqing felt a pain like his skull had been cracked open, his vision went black, and he instantly lost consciousness.

"What did you do?" Tu Ran gripped her machine gun tightly, her finger hovering over the trigger.

"I just put him to sleep for a while," Tubin said calmly.

Tu Ran relaxed a little.

"Now, let's talk about our deal."

Tu Ran stayed silent, waiting for him to continue.

At the same time, she didn't let her guard down, watching her surroundings from the corner of her eye. She worried the so-called deal was just Tubin stalling for time.

"Don't tell anyone what you saw just now, and I'll give you a gift," Tubin said.

"What gift?"

She needed to weigh it.

"A gift you need most right now."

What she needed most right now?

There were plenty of things she needed—the original body's memories, her skills, survival...

"Specifically?"

"The past," Tubin said. "I can let you see the past. I can give you the memories of the real Tu Ran."

Tu Ran's hand holding the gun trembled. Why did Tubin know she wasn't the real Tu Ran?

And how could it let her see the past?

The Snake King, covered in silver scales, slowly crawled out of Tubin's body. Its metallic luster gave it a mechanical beauty. It raised its upper body to match Tu Ran's height.

At the tip of its tail was a sharp spike like a rhino horn. It slowly raised the tail end, piercing it into the back of its own head. With the sound of flesh being churned, its body shuddered, and then a silver-white pearl was lifted out by its tail.

It was presented to Tu Ran.

Seeing this pearl, Tu Ran instantly thought of that chicken spirit's "stone."

"What is this?" Tu Ran blurted out.

"My inner core. Eat it, and you'll gain my ability—to see the past and foresee the future."

She'd actually guessed right?!

That thing really was an inner core!

Tu Ran took a deep breath to keep herself from looking too eager. "How do I know this isn't one of your tricks? What if you're just fooling me with poison?"

The Snake King was enraged. "My hook snake clan values honor above all. We disdain deception, unlike you humans—cunning, treacherous, faithless, sinister, hypocritical, ungrateful—"

"Stop." Tu Ran cut it off.

This snake's hatred for humanity ran deep.

If she didn't stop it, it might keep cursing forever.

She reached out to take the so-called inner core but still felt uneasy. "I believe you that eating this will let me see the past, but foresee the future? If you could foresee the future, wouldn't you have predicted I'd plant bugs on Li Wu and Liang Feng? Or that I'd use this woman's life to threaten you?"

"Foreseeing the future has level limits," the Snake King said, sounding weary—removing its inner core had taken a heavy toll on its body. "I've only reached the intermediate level. I can only see five minutes into the future, and each use consumes enormous energy. I can't see the future whenever I want."

"Then can this thing see others' pasts?" Tu Ran asked.

"Yes. That's how I saw your past. That's how I know you're not from this world. That's also why I chose to make a deal with you."

The Snake King could no longer support itself, its body going limp as it lay by the bedside, its head close to the unconscious woman's hand.

"What do you mean?" Tu Ran didn't quite understand. It chose to deal with her just because she was from another world?

"I hate the humans of this world. They're selfish, cruel, and greedy. They invaded my world, seeking to destroy it to expand their territory. They've also hunted my kind to extinction, dissecting, modifying, and reassembling our bodies."

"I hate them. I hate everyone in this world."

Its voice was weak to the point of breaking, but Tu Ran could still hear bone-deep hatred in its tone.

"You don't belong to this world. Everything you've done is just to survive. I don't hate you. And I've expended all my energy to glimpse the future. I saw... I saw you..."

The Snake King mimicked a human, opening its mouth to laugh.

Though it wasn't a pleasant sight—in fact, it was a bit ridiculous.

Tu Ran wanted to ask what exactly it had seen; she was dying of curiosity.

But looking at this snake, already so weak it barely had any strength left, she chose to listen in silence.

"You must keep your word. Protect her."

That was its last words.

It fell into a deep sleep beside the woman, its head carefully leaning toward her but never touching her.

The world fell silent in an instant, and even the gunfire outside began to fade.

Tu Ran looked at the pearl in her palm. Without hesitation, she tilted her head back and swallowed it.

The moment it entered her throat, it turned into a wisp of fragrant air that spread through her limbs and bones.

In her mind, different images flashed by like flowing water, assembling into a complete story.

The first alien species humans ever brought out of the Threshold was the hook snake.

That secret was closely guarded, unknown to anyone—including the later-formed Pioneer Team.